Off the Mat: Wolverines Sweep the Spartans!

For the first time this year, the sweet sounds of "The Victors" have emanated from the Wolverine locker room. Michigan put together their first winning streak since the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th games of the season with a 3-2 win over the Spartans at Yost last night followed by a 5-2 win today at the Joe.

Boo Nieves, Derek DeBlois, and Phil DiGiuseppe were particularly awesome for Michigan this weekend. Nieves had a 3-2--5 line on the weekend, DeBlois scored three goals and was ridiculous on the PK, and PDG added five assists. 

Jared Rutledge was in net for both games and had a solid weekend. Two of the goals he allowed should have been stopped, but unlike previous games where a bad goal would snowball into 2, 3, or 4 in a period, he responded with some really nice stops and has clearly earned a spot between the pipes next weekend against Notre Dame. Michigan has only allowed fewer than 3 goals on 8 occasions this year, so it was nice to see it happen in back-to-back games for the first time all year. Also, it's worth pointing out that the Wolverines have only allowed more than three 15 times this year, but only once in the last five games. Progress. If you give up three or fewer you'll have a chance to at least be in the game. 

It was a late-arriving and fairly subdued crowd at Yost last night, and in the early-going the team matched the lack of enthusiasm of the fans. Rutledge made one nice stop in the early-going, but it took less than five minutes for the Spartans to get on the board last night at Yost. Serville had his pocket picked by Brent Darnell and Darnell lifted one up over Rutledge's glove from a sharp angle. 

Michigan started to turn the tide in the mid-to-late section of the period and ended up outshooting the Spartans 14-10 in the frame. DeBlois and Nieves were Michigan's two best players in the first period and it would later pay off for them.

Nieves mentioned that in the locker room, the team decided that this was the time where they would usually fall apart and it wasn't going to happen. The team came out in the second period and played what had to have been one of their top 5 periods of the season. The Wolverines only scored one goal, thanks to some great goaltending by Jake Hildebrand, but they outshot the Spartans 14-4 and largely took control of the game. 

Trouba rings one off the post
Photo: Tim Williams

The Wolverines swarmed the Michigan State net for large parts of the period. Trouba hit the post off a faceoff win, Moffatt nearly hooked up with Hyman just before Michigan's goal, and finally the Wolverines were able to capitalize. PDG kept the puck in the zone and got it over to Nieves in the middle of the ice. He slid a pass over to DeBlois who absolutely sniped one up into the top corner to even the game at one.

Before intermission, Sinelli had a partial breakaway but a nice play by the Spartan defense forced a shot wide of the goal. 

After the Children of Yost did their thing:

...the third period started with a bang as the teams combined for three goals in the first five minutes. A Spartan clearing attempt hit a teammate in the back and the puck stayed in the zone. PDG centered for Nieves who slapped it past Hildebrand. 

The Spartans answered less than a minute later, however. The Spartans won a battle in the corner and Kevin Walrod was able to get the puck to Jake Chelios just before he was hit by Mike Szuma. Chelios had a step on Rohrkemper and was able to pull the puck cross-crease and sneak it past Rutledge's pad to even the game again.

It took Michigan just over two minutes to get back on top. A big hit by Kevin Lynch in the defense end freed up the puck for Nieves. He sent it up-ice to PDG and the DiGiuseppe hit him streaking into the slot. He one-touched it past Hildebrand for his second of the game, sixth of the year. That would be all she wrote. Michigan was able to kill of a Spartan power play in the last few minutes.

The question then became how would Michigan respond? When they last defeated the Spartans at Yost, they followed it up by getting shelled the next night at Munn. They had three other chances to sweep a series but hadn't be able to finish the deal.

The game got off to a poor start as Moffie was whistled for a penalty--his fourth of the weekend--in the first twenty second. The PK again did their job, aided by two or three really nice saves by Rutledge, and the Wolverines were soon awarded a power-play of their own. DiGiuseppe's shot was turned aside, but Luke Moffatt was able to get three pops at the puck in front of the net, eventually shoveling one past Hildebrand to give Michigan a 1-0 lead. 

Mid-period, the puck once again didn't lie. Andrew Sinelli was whistled for charging on what appeared to be a good, hard check. On the ensuing power play, Derek DeBlois stole the puck from a Spartan, skated in, and destroyed Hildebrand's water bottle with a shot for his second snipe of the weekend. 

Hildebrand had a couple of big stops late in the period to keep the game from getting out of hand early-on. He made another great stop on Kevin Lynch early in the second, off a great feed from Guptill. With Michigan on the power play, a Moffie turnover led to a rush the other way and Forfar beat Rutledge 5-hole to cut the lead in half. Merrill slashed Forfar as he was coming in, and the Spartans got a power play on the "and-one". After the PK did their job again, Andrew Sinelli was behind the net and found Andrew Copp in the slot. Copp tapped it through the wickets to put Michigan back up by 2. Nice to see two of the hardest working guys in the business rewarded for their efforts!

The Spartans had the Wolverines on their heels for the last five-minutes or so in the period and they looked to grab some momentum as Wolfe dove for a loose puck and got it under Rutledge's pad. That one needed to be stopped. His pad got off the ice and the puck snuck underneath. A lot of times this season, Michigan has failed to respond in situations like this, but tonight they did and it was Derek DeBlois again. Moffie flipped a shot toward the net and Hildebrand left a soft rebound. DeBlois was there to knock it home and the Wolverines went into intermission with their two-goal lead in tact. 

In the third, Nieves had a chance at the side of the net but hit it into the side of the goal. Rather than try to stuff it in again with Hildebrand out of position and a defenseman closing, he opted to take the puck around the net and throw it out front. His centering attempt deflected off of Travis Walsh and bounced into the Spartan goal. 

The Spartans had a couple of looks after that, but nothing major. Michigan outshot FYS 45-28 in the game and got to celebrate their first sweep of the season with a 5-2 victory. Rutledge was named the third star of the game, which is really nice for him and has to do wonders for his confidence.

The Wolverines now head to South Bend, and it will be really interesting to see if this little spark can ignite a fire. They're getting the Irish at a good time. After a great start to their year, the Irish would actually miss the tournament if it started today. They snapped a five-game losing streak with a win over Ferris State last weekend, but they've lost 6 of 7 and 7 of 9 heading into tonight's action. Michigan lost 3-1 and 4-1 games to Notre Dame at Yost earlier in the year, but they were competitive in both of those games before fading late.

Talk of next week can wait. For tonight, the team just needs to enjoy their first sweep of the season and make sure it's not the last time this year that they get to sing "The Victors". 

In addition to the video above, I snapped a bunch of pictures this weekend with my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and I'm pretty happy with how they came out. We were packed in pretty tight so it was nice to be able to just pull my phone out and get some quality shots when it was hard to dip into my pocket to get my camera out.

Warmups

I love the guys on the back of the net

The anthem. This is the new background on my phone.

GOAL!!!

One of the best traditions in sports

WANT!

Celebrating with Rutledge

Saluting the fans

It is a grand old barn

Scouting the Spartans With "The Munn Minute"

The Munn Minute, written by "MSUStudent" from the Yost Post, thought it might be fun for us to have a little back-and-forth in light of this weekend's series between Michigan and Michigan State. I answered a bunch of questions about the Wolverines for his site, and he returned the favor by discussing the Spartans for me to post here.

I freely admit that the questions that were similar between the two interviews were totally ganked by me.

Yost Built: Okay. So Jake Hildebrand has a GAA that's almost half that of Yanakeff. His save percentage is 64 points higher. His winning percentage is almost 10% lower. What gives? They just not giving him any goal support whatsoever? Are they inflating his save totals like they did with Jeff Lerg? How are you not winning 30% of your games when a guy is stopping 94% of the shots that the other team puts on goal? Like....I kind of feel bad for the guy. Can we have him?

The Munn Minute: First off, no, you can't have him. If it wasn't for him, I'm not sure MSU would have a win at this point in the season. I don't believe the Jeff Lerg shot inflation is going on, though the first night against Penn State made me wonder if it was. The problem is offense. If you thought MSU football had no offense, the hockey team is setting new limits on just how inept you can be. 54 goals scored in 26 games. Hildebrand has lost three 1-0 games this year. Yes, you are reading that correctly - MSU has lost three games this year by a 1-0 score in which Hildebrand was in goal. And I'm not counting the 2-1 or 2-0 games either. MSU has been shutout five times this year (six if you count the game against the US Development team), and only one of those five games the team scored more than two goals, and in that game the final goal was an empty net goal. Now with that said, I do believe MSU has some guys in place that look like they could turn into something down the road. Kevin Walrod had a pretty good weekend against Penn State, and if he can get going, MSU might actually have a second line develop. Just take a mental note of how many quality chances MSU gets this weekend and then count how often they miss the net. Even Coach Anastos has said the team needs to hit the net more. It has been interesting to see how many close opprtunities go wide.

YB: Clearly this season hasn't gone the way that either of our fanbases (or either of our teams) would have wanted. Who is the most pleasant surprise on your team? Any major disappointments?

TMM: The biggest disappointment has been the injuries. Bondra and Chelios (Dean) being out hurts the depth up front. Maybe we can get their dads to come in and play a little. Hildebrand actually has been a surprise, because I don't think he was a highly rated recruiting target. His numbers weren't bad in the USHL, but they weren't eye-popping either. I believe he posted a .913 save % and 2.79 GAA in his final year. Solid numbers. His rebound control has been spectacular this year, and he really seems to be calm under a lot of pressure. It gives me a lot of hope that MSU can build around him for the next few years. Draeger on the blue line seems to be getting more comfortable and improving - but again, the offense needs to come. The offense in general has been disappointing. You can probably go right down the list, but the upperclassmen haven't been producing a lot.

YB: A lot of people mocked the Anastos hire when it happened. There were also a lot of people who swore up and down that it was a brilliant move. You're on year 2 now, so it's probably still too soon to say for sure, but which side of the fence are you on? Do you think he's the right man for the job?

TMM: I will admit I wasn't exactly jumping up and down with the hire, but I wasn't in the room when he interviewed, and Anastos has brought people back to the program despite a struggling season. He got the team to the NCAA tournament the year before - something Comley was struggling to do. He played at MSU, and he knows the program. He basically said all the right things at first, and I think that got a lot of people in his corner. I heard a stat a week or two ago that Michigan State was leading the CCHA in attendance. I never did check to verify it, so it might not be true, but if it is then I think that shows what a good job he is doing bringing the University back to the program. Attendance had suffered under Coach Comley. But now if a team that is in last place in the CCHA is leading the league in attendance, then he must be doing something right.

I also like some of the kids that it looks like he has coming into East Lansing in the near future. I'm wondering if hockey fans are going to be patient enough to give him enough time to finish the job, and I think people are willing to give him a pass on this season given the circumstances of injuries and having so many freshmen on the roster. It's going to be important that MSU has a rebound year next year though.

YB: I have a major hatred for Bryan Lerg because of the whole decommit-and-then-go-to-State thing. Also Corey Tropp and Andrew Conboy for obvious reasons. Is there/Are there any Michigan player(s) past or present who someone could say their name to you and your immediate reaction would be, "Aww man, screw that guy"?

TMM: T.J. Hensick. Couldn't stand the guy. Great player, but it seemed like he would destroy MSU and was at Michigan for 15 years. Treais is getting up there on this list, but I don't have quite the same "Wow, didn't he graduate 3 years ago?" feeling with him that I had with Hensick. Then he went to play for the Avs - which made it worse (as a Wings fan). I think he's in the Blues organization now too right? That isn't any better. Al Montoya was fun to mess around with at Munn. It didn't seem like he ignored your comments either.

YB: What is your favorite Michigan/Michigan State hockey moment? Beside The Cold War, clearly. (Ed Note: This was originally supposed to be a snarky comment. I meant to say "Beside The Big Chill, clearly", but I was writing these questions at 3 in the morning and completely stuffed it up.)

TMM: The Cold War was a great experience at Spartan Stadium. It also made everyone instantly like Jim Slater since he said something either before or after the game (I think) that any MSU fan would love to hear "I hate Michigan." Plus he scored the goal that tied the game late in the 3rd period. (Thanks to a blatant penalty that went uncalled. Just saying. -YB) The 2008 game at Munn when Michigan was #1 and unbeaten on the road was fun to be at. MSU used a couple quick goals in the second period to turn a tight 2-1 contest into a 4-1 blowout. The ultimate 5-2 win kept MSU in the CCHA title race too. One of my favorite moments happened during team introductions at Munn. I forget which year (I want to say early 2000s - since Mason may still have been coaching, and I was in my first or second year at MSU), but the first Michigan player introduced skated out and fell down at the blue line. He got a standing & laughing ovation from the crowd at Munn, and he actually did a good job shaking it off putting his stick in the air to acknowledge the crowd. We thought it'd be good if his next teammate intentionally fell just to make him feel slightly better.

YB: If you could have one Wolverine on your team right now, who would it be?

TMM: Probably Trouba. MSU always seems to have d-men that can create offense (Krug being the latest example). We need that this year, since it really hasn't happened yet. Trouba certainly could fill that role.

YB: Thoughts on the Big Ten Hockey Conference?

TMM: I love the idea. I think the casual hockey fan turns up for the big name schools, so getting Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Penn State on a regular basis will put more people in the seats and eyes on the TV. I think the teams within the conference need to improve, or we might as well hand the trophy to Minnesota for the first couple of years. My one concern though is if the shoot-out follows us into the Big Ten. I'm not a fan of the shoot-out in the CCHA. But then again, I was never one of those hockey fans that really thought it was a big deal to end a game in a tie. I guess at the NHL level I've gotten used to it, but I feel like the impact of it isn't as great over an 82 game schedule.

YB: Does your team have a winning streak in it to keep their season going into the NCAA Tournament?

TMM: It would surprise me. The only way this happens is if we win the CCHA tournament, and the odds of that are simply not good. If Hildebrand continues to play well or gets even better then I suppose we'll be in some games, but right now MSU would have to go to Columbus and play Ohio State to win 2 out of 3. Ohio State swept MSU in East Lansing this season. If we manage to win that series, we'd have to go to Western Michigan for a pair. MSU is technically unbeaten against Western in like 3 or 4 games (GLI game counting as a tie) - which includes sweeping them in K-Zoo last year, but yeah - Hildebrand would need to put on a show. At that point it's single elimination which a good goalie can win you a game. But that point seems like it's a very, very, very long ways away. MSU is entering a key stretch to their schedule - State is only four points out of eighth place. And MSU plays Michigan, Bowling Green, and Northern Michigan over the next 3 weeks (the 3 teams ahead of MSU right now). Plus MSU has two games on hand Michigan and Northern Michigan, so the Spartans control their own destiny. If we can manage to get home ice in the first round, I think our chances improve.

Here's a stat for you that might make your jaw drop: MSU has not been to Joe Louis Arena for the CCHA Tournament since the 2006 - 2007 season. (Whoa. Yeah, I didn't realize that. -YB) Since that season the CCHA tournament has been a short lived one with zero series wins, and only one playoff victory (game 1 vs. NMU in 2008):

2008 - CCHA Quarterfinal loss vs Northern Michigan in 3 games
2009 - CCHA First Round loss at Northern Michigan in 2 games
2010 - CCHA Quarterfinal loss vs. Michigan in 2 games
2011 - CCHA First Round loss at Alaska in 2 games
2012 - CCHA Quarterfinal loss at Miami in 2 games (MSU was #5 - earning a bye, but having to play at #4 Miami)

In fact, if you include the NCAA tournament, MSU has now lost ten straight post season games (MSU beat Colorado College in the first round of the 2008 NCAA tournament, but lost to ND in the regional final)

YB: What's been the single biggest reason for Michigan State's lack of success this season and what would be the single most important thing they could do in order to turn it around?

TMM: Offense & more offense. MSU needs better production from its second and third lines. I also think MSU needs better production from the blue line (top d-man in scoring has 7 points) and power play. Unfortunately, I only think this is going to come with time and recruiting, and I do believe MSU has more offensive style recruits coming in, but we'll have to see if it's enough to turn things around. Berry, Delbouw, and Darnell can't do it by themselves. Tanner Sorenson has started to pick it up which has been good to see. If a guy like Chris Forfar or Kevin Walrod really get going (Walrod had a good weekend against Penn State), then MSU could still turn this season around a little bit - and at least be a tough out in the CCHA tournament. This means hitting the net when they have those good scoring chances, and it means taking care of the puck heading out of their own zone. I think I just gave you a few different things, but it just all revolves around putting more pucks in the net.

YB: And lastly, your prediction for the weekend?

TMM: With the way both teams have been playing this year, I suppose a split is the logical way to go. But I'm actually going to say Michigan gets five of the possible six points with a shoot-out win down in Detroit. Note: the last time I did this with a team was Ferris State and MSU won #reversejinx. One last thing - just to see if you'll put it on your blog.....Go [Derrick -YB] Green!

Michigan State Preview

Wrapping up NMU:
Michigan took just two points against the Northerns last weekend, and they were probably lucky to get that much. On Friday night they trailed 4-1 after two periods before mounting a miracle comeback that culminated in AJ Treais's goal with 0.6 seconds left in regulation. Michigan then won in a shootout on another Treais goal. Saturday it was more of the same. The Wolverines trailed 4-1 after two for the second straight night and for the second straight night they mounted a comeback. They fell just short, however, by a 4-3 score.

The big story of the weekend was Jacob Trouba getting a five-minute major and a DQ for absolutely wrecking Reed Seckel. Video has surfaced:

With the way the game is called these days and with the emphasis on preventing concussions, that's going to be a DQ. Truth be told, though, the guy has his head down, he's leaning forward, and Trouba is a big dude to start with. He's going to hit him in the head whether he wants to or not. I get that they are putting the onus on the hitter to do it safely and with the way the rule reads that's the right call, but man....get your head up, son.

That's the way I skate, and I could never play in a checking league because I would die within five minutes. I don't have a problem with the DQ and subsequent game suspension, especially because the hit was with just over five minutes left in regulation, but if he had gotten any more than that I wouldn't have been happy. It's going to end up being just like in the early 2000s when they ejected players for any hit from behind, no matter how insignificant it was. I remember Porter getting tossed for one that was just comical.

In other news, AJ Treais has seven goals in seven games, which puts him third nationally in that category behind guys from Dartmouth and Yale. So that puts him first nationally in that category. Only Giancarlo Iuorio from Niagara has more goals. Mac Bennett is second national in points per game amongst defensemen with 9. Trouba is first amongst rookie defensemen and 6th nationally amongst freshmen in points per game. And destroyed Northerns.

So. Remember in my season preview when I wrote this:

What I'm getting at is that this isn't likely to be a Michigan team that is going to win games 5-4. The strength of this team is unquestionably the blueline as opposed to having blue-chip talent up front or a Hobey-candidate between the pipes.

That couldn't possibly have been more wrong. Currently the Wolverines rank first in the nation, scoring a whopping 4.43 goals per game. The downside? They're 50th nationally allowing 3.43 goals per game.

Jared Rutledge will be back between the pipes Friday night and we're going to see what he's made of. It's hard to imagine more pressure being on a young goalie in a regular season game in the second month of the season. He needs a good performance and it's a rivalry game against FYS. I really hope the crowd is supportive and doesn't get on him or get audibly anxious if he gives up a bad goal in the early going.

The Spartans rank 38th in offense (2.50 goals per game) and 39th in defense at 3.00 goals per game. As I'm sure you can imagine with numbers like those, it hasn't been a good start to the year for the young Spartan team, which features just four NHL draft picks. Minnesota did to them in their opening weekend what Alabama did to our football team. The only difference is our players weren't on Twitter saying that Jerry Sandusky would be proud of what Minnesota was doing and saying that Mike Szuma could play goal for them. Since then, they earned a win and a tie against Niagara before splitting with LSSU and BGSU.

They're led offensively by sophomore Matt Berry and freshman Matt DeBlouw, a draft pick of Calgary, with 3-4--7 lines in the eight games they've played. They combined for 8 of those 14 points in their 6-1 win over BGSU last Saturday. All of Berry's goals have come with the man advantage. In fact, 9 of FYS's 20 goals have come with an extra attacker. Their PP is 25.7%, good for 9th nationally. The PK is 23rd at 85.7%.

The Spartans also have a freshman named David Bondra. Like, Bondra Bondra, son of 2x 50-goal scorer and former Detroit Viper Peter Bondra. He has 1 assist in 8 games.

On the blueline, freshman John Draeger has chipped in with four points. Matt Grassi is their senior leader. In net, DREW PALMISANO IS FROM ANN ARBOR has graduated. Will Yanakeff WHO ALSO PLAYED IN ANN ARBOR AT USA is still there and is 2-3-1 with an ugly 3.49/.884, which was no doubt hurt by that awful weekend against the Gophers. Freshman Jake Hildebrand is 1-1-0 with a 1.72/.938. He picked up a win against the Lakers and was in net for a 1-0 loss to Bowling Green last weekend.

Friday night's game is at Yost. Saturday's game will be at the Munn Memorial Library. Both games will air on Comcast, grumble grumble.

As always, FYS.

Wolverines, Spartans Split Late-Season Series

Michigan and Michigan State split a pair of 3-2 contests in their late-season series. The Spartans won at Munn on Friday night, while the Wolverines rebounded in overtime at the Joe on Saturday.

Friday night's game was wide-open early on. There were only 2-3 stoppages in the first nine minutes. Michigan State held a 10-8 edge in shots, but the teams went into the intermission 0-0. In the first frame, the best sequence was a 4-on-2 for Michigan State that was broken up by Hyman. That led to a 3-on-2 the other way for the Wolverines and Sparks had a good chance that was denied by Yanakeff.

Early in the second, Mike Chiasson had to hook Merrifield after he split the defense. The Spartans kept the puck in the Michigan end for a good 1:50 of that power play, but outside of a chance by Krug, the PKers kept the Spartans at bay.

Just after the Spartan power play ended, DiGiuseppe and Treais came in 2-on-1. PDG got it over to Treais and he buried it to give Michigan a 1-0 lead.

Michigan nearly made it 2-0 moments after another Spartan power play. Sinelli was sprung on a breakaway and got denied by Yanakeff.

Kevin Lynch actually did make it 2-0 midway through the period. Moffie got deep into the zone to dig a puck loose. He got it to Lynch and Lynch was able to sneak it underneath Yanakeff.

The Spartans responded in a big way just a couple of minutes later. FYS won a faceoff in the Michigan end. They tried to center it through the slot, but no one was home. The puck bounced back to Torey Krug at the point and he ripped one past Hunwick. Merrifield would hit the post before the end of the period, but it remained 2-1 Michigan after two.

The third period was a reminder of how wildly inconsistent CCHA officiating can be. The officials had really let them play for the first two periods and I was actually thinking how well-officiated the game had been. The third was characterized by weak calls all around. The Spartans capitalized on the ones in their favor. Michigan didn't, when an awful call gave them a late chance to tie the game.

Just 27 seconds into the third period, PDG was called for roughing on what was a completely-clean hit. Initially it looked like a possible hit from behind, but he clearly got him shoulder to shoulder. It was a hard hit, but completely legal. Not sure how they got roughing out of that. It was just another example of an alarming trend in college hockey where any hard hit is liable to get you sent to the box, if not ejected. This one was a game-changer.

It took the Spartans just under a minute to tie the game. Hunwick was run into, no call. Play continued, the puck got back to Krug at the point and he ripped another one past Hunwick to tie the game.

The Spartans momentum continued and Hunwick was forced to make a good stop on Buttery. FYS went back on the power play after a soft offensive-zone trip on DeBlois. He tapped the guy on the shin pads and he went down like he was shot.

That one came back to bite Michigan as well. Krug walked through the defense and got the puck to Berry by the back door. He had an empty net to shoot at and made it 3-2 Spartans.

You knew Michigan was going to get one opportunity with the man advantage to tie things back up after three Spartan power plays in the third, and that chance came with about 4 minutes left. Brett Perlini was called for elbowing on as poor of a call as you'll see all year. There was absolutely nothing wrong with that hit. The announcers described it well, saying that he was "winding up that elbow" as he went in for the check, but he didn't use it. They anticipated what was going to happen.

Unlike the Spartans, however, Michigan wasn't able to capitalize on a poor call in their favor. They only had one decent chance on the power play, PDG centered to Moffatt in front. The Wolverines got Hunwick out with about a minute left in regulation, but didn't have anything resembling a chance and the Spartans got the victory.

The next night at the Joe, Michigan was able to rebound from the loss. It wasn't easy, however. Both teams swapped periods of dominance. Michigan State had the edge in play through a large chunk of the third period, but Shawn Hunwick was fantastic. Michigan scored on a fluky goal in OT to get the victory.

Out of the gate, Michigan controlled the play. Clare had the first really good chance of the game as the late man on a 3-on-2. Treais got it to him with PDG driving the net. Yanakeff made a good collarbone save.

Hunwick made his first big stop of the game on Walrod, and Perlini sent the rebound off the side of the net.

Michigan took a 1-0 lead at the 12:12 mark of the first. PDG sent a behind-the-back pass to Glendening and Glendening found Treais in the slot. Yanakeff made the first stop but Treais corralled his own rebound and was able to tuck it into the net.

The next five minutes were much more back-and-forth. Walrod hit the post.

Early in the second period, Wohlberg turned it over, leading to a 2-on-1 for the Spartans. Bennett played it absolutely perfect and broke the play up without them getting a shot away.

Hunwick then made a great stop on Wolfe, but Wolfe got his revenge moments later off a pass from Walrod to make it 1-1.

Hyman ran into Yanakeff and knocked him over. The CCHA showed that they are willing to call goalie interference after all, and sent him off. Weird. I thought goalies were fair game...maybe that's just when Sergott is reffing.

On the power play, Perlini got the puck by the side of the net on the goal line. Hunwick cheated a little bit and crouched low. Perlini got a great shot away--put it right up over him and the Spartans had themselves a 2-1 lead.

Moments later, Hunwick made a game-changing stop on a Perlini breakaway. The would've made it 3-1 Michigan State. Instead, we got a TV timeout and a chance to calm things down a little bit. Right out of the TV timeout, Glendening fed Treais just inside the blueline. Treais ripped a wrist-shot from the top of the circle top-shelf, far side. He got it past Yanakeff's blocker to the tie the game at 2.

The teams would trade opportunities for the remainder of the second period. Michigan State nearly got back on top but Hunwick stopped Sorenson on a 2-on-1 and then the Spartans hit the post.

Late in the period, Guptill had himself a breakaway. He made a great move and when he got the shot away, it looked like it was destined for the back of the net, but Yanakeff got his blocker down and somehow kept it out. Jake Chelios was sent off for elbowing with about a minute left in the first. Merrill had a couple of keeps at the blueline, but nothing much came of it. Walrod had a great pass breakup to keep Guptill from being in all alone again in the waning seconds.

The first 16-or-so minutes of the third were as bad as Michigan has looked since before the GLI, but their Hobey Baker-candidate goaltending saved their bacon time and time again. Moffie made a good play to break up a potential Merrifield goal. Hunwick stopped a 2-on-1. Moffie turned it over and Michigan State had several good chances, but nothing really got through. Hunwick made a great little right pad save on Berry, and then Moffatt was called for hooking after another Moffie turnover.

Even though the PK struggled this weekend, they had a big, big kill there. Some good work by K. Lynch and DeBlois.

Mac Bennett then had a horrid turnover and Hunwick was right there to rob Trevor Nill and deny him a potential game-winner. Pateryn then rushed the puck and rung one off the post. The rebound came out to Bennett and he had the entire net to shoot at. He went high and may have caught iron as well.

Shots were 14-11 FYS in the final frame, but neither team was able to break the 2-2 tie and the game headed to overtime, just like the last time they met at the Joe.

And just like the previous overtime game at Joe Louis, it was the Wolverines coming out on top. Hunwick stopped Nill on a tough backhander and Wohlberg hit Guptill on a shot after a nifty little toe-drag around the defense.

Kevin Lynch just missed being the overtime hero once again off a feed from Travis Lynch, but Yanakeff was there. The puck came out to center and DeBlois dumped it back in. Crandall bent down to stop the bouncing puck, but somehow it got through his legs. Kevin Lynch had cycled back into the offensive zone and was right there to pounce on it. He fired it past a surprised Yanakeff and the Wolverines were victorious!

That was certainly not the gold standard for victories. There were way too many odd-man rushes allowed, the defense turned the puck over way too much, and the top line wasn't as effective as they need to be. But Hunwick was there when they needed him and they were able to gut out a victory to keep themselves in the CCHA title hunt.

Ferris State swept Notre Dame this weekend, so they lead Michigan by 6 points (and WMU by 5) with two weekends to play. Ferris and Western play each other the last weekend of the season, so it's probably unlikely that Michigan wins the conference title even if they sweep NMU and BGSU, but there's a chance, and they should certainly be able to get second place.

In the PWR, the Wolverines currently sit in 4th, though they're second in the RPI. Ferris State is tops in both at the moment. Nine CCHA teams rank in the top 20 of the PWR at the moment. Six would make the tournament if it started today. Miami is the last team in. Notre Dame (!), second-place Western Michigan (!) and LSSU would be three of the first five teams out.

Next weekend, the Wolverines have Northern Michigan at Yost, and again, both games will be on TV. The Big Ten Network will have Friday night's game. Saturday's game will air on FSN Detroit as part of Hockey Day in Michigan. Note the odd 5:05 EST start time on the Saturday game.

Lastly, vote for Shawn Hunwick for Hobey! He's 14% behind the lead right now, but there have only been 76,000 votes cast, so it only works out to about 10,000 votes. It seriously takes 2 seconds and you don't have to register for anything.

FYS Preview

It's fitting that Michigan is playing against Little Brother this week, given that Brian Hoyer got to be Tom Brady's water boy in another Super Bowl, Mario Manningham made a game-changing play that gave Greg Jones a chance to propose to his girlfriend, and the eyes of the hockey world were on Ann Arbor as the NHL wants to play their Winter Classic at Marcia, Marcia, Marcia's stadium! It's not fair, dammit!

Anyway, Friday night's game is at Munn Library and Ice Arena while Saturday's contest will be at Joe Louis Arena. The Big Ten Network and Fox Sports Detroit will air the respective games.

The Wolverines will play Friday night without Chris Brown, who was suspended for his altercation with Miami's Will Weber on Saturday night.

The Shartans sit in a tie with LSSU for seventh place in the CCHA, though FYS is just one point behind Ohio and Miami and has two games in hand on both of them.

Sparty returns home after playing their last four on the road. They were swept by Ferris State and then swept the Buckeyes in Columbus, as Ohio continues their free-fall from the top spot in the rankings to possibly landing out of the NCAA Tournament.

They rank 15th in the nation in offense at 3.13 goals per game, but have just one player with 10+ goals, and that's Mike Merrifield with 11. They do, however, have six players with 8+ goals. Sophomore forward Lee Reimer leads the team in points with 8-19--27. Torey Krug has 8-16--24 from back on the blueline, including five goals on the power play.

Merrifield got off to a very fast start, but has only put up 3-1--4 since the start of December. Assist-leader Reimer has been in a slump as well. He has just four assists in 2012 and hasn't scored since a 1-1--2 performance the last time these teams met at Munn. Krug has 10 points in his last 7.

In net, it's been almost a dead-split between DREW PALMISANO IS FROM ANN ARBOR and Willie Yanakeff, who played for the NTDP in Ann Arbor. Yanakeff has outperformed the senior, however. He has a 10-5-1 record to Palmisano's 5-6-3. Yanakeff leads in GAA 2.37 to 2.77 and has a .927 save percentage compared to Palmisano's .914. That said, the Wolverines put four past Yanakeff at Yost, and Palmisano has given up 7 on 87 shots in two games against Michigan (a shootout win when he acted like they won the Stanley Cup and an overtime loss in the GLI).

Palmisano has only played three games since the GLI Championship game, and has given up 11 goals, including 9 in his last two starts. Yanakeff has played in seven games this calendar year and has three 40-save performances to his credit in that span. I'd imagine we'll see both goalies.

The Spartans have a 15.9% power play, which is actually one slot in the rankings behind Michigan's 16.1%. They've scored one fewer power play goal on five fewer chances with the man advantage. They're very good on the PK however. They rank second nationally with an 89.1% (and the team ahead of them is Robert Morris, so for all intents and purposes, the Spartans are the best penalty killing team in the country). They've given up 13 power play goals on 119 chances. Michigan has climbed the ranks up to #15, as they've been phenomenal since these teams last met. Michigan has given up 20 PPGs on 127 short-handed occasions (84.3%).

David Wohlberg has been an absolute Spartan-killer in his career. He is far and away the tops on the team against FYS, with a 9-8--17 line in 18 career games. The next highest on the Wolverines in points is Chris Brown, with 8 in 13 games. He'll only get one crack at them this weekend.

Shawn Hunwick is 6-2-1 with a 1.94/.929 against Michigan State in his career.

FYS Preview

The Wolverines and Spartans face-off in a home-and-home this weekend. Tonight's game is at Yost. Tomorrow they'll play at the Munn Memorial Library. The best part is that *gasp* both games are on TV! Tonight's game airs on FSN Detroit and tomorrow is on the Big Ten Network. Also, the premiere of the Blue Ice documentary airs following the game tonight.

The Spartans got off to a bit of a rough start under first-year head coach Tom Anastos, going 2-4 out of the gate. Since then, they've gone 8-1-1, including a win and a tie against Minnesota and a road sweep of Western Michigan.

The offense has come alive for them. In the past ten games, they've been held below three goals on just one occasion and have only scored fewer than four twice. They've also been really strong on defense, giving up more than two goals just twice (both to Minnesota, neither of which they lost).

It's a good start for The Commish, and I'll eat some crow over that one if they keep it up since I made fun of that hiring an awful lot.

They're led offensively by a pair of sophomores, Lee Reimer (7-13--20) and Greg Wolfe (5-11--16). Mike Merrifield, in 12 games, has exceeded his goal and point totals for the rest of his career combined. He had 6-6--12 in 60 games. This year he has 8-5--13 in 12 games. Captain Torey Krug has also chipped in with 11 points from the blueline.

In net, ANN ARBOR NATIVE Drew Palmisano and Will Yanakeff have split the duties. Palmisano is 4-3-1 in his eight starts with a 2.73/.910. Yanakeff is 6-2-0 with a 2.26/.923. The starts haven't been a direct split. Palmisano played both games against Minnesota while Yanakeff played both games against WMU and NMU.

Yanakeff was 2-0 against Michigan last year (making 37 and 31 saves and giving up 4 goals total). Palmisano gave up 9 on 69 shots last year. Gut feeling, I'd expect to see Yanakeff.

The Spartan power play is just 15.9% (38th), but they're 4th-nationally with an 89.2% success rate on the PK. They've also given up 19 fewer power play chances than Michigan.

The Only Colors has a preview from the FYS side.

Michigan 4, FYS 0

(via EagleScout03 on Twitter...Nice to see people still remember!)

This might be the "Thank you, Ken Daniels" moment of all time, but we sure are a lot better when we're not taking stupid penalties the entire freaking game. If that wasn't the polar opposite of the night before...

A night after really embarrassing themselves in a lot of ways, the hockey team played a pretty complete game in downing FYS by a 4-0 margin. The game was much closer than the final score, as five minutes into the third period it was still a 1-0 game and the Wolverines didn't really put it away until AJ Treais's sixth of the year with just under five minutes to play.

The first two periods were really even. Michigan led 1-0 on a goal by Carl Hagelin through a nice Matt Rust screen. Shots to that point were 25-22 and both goalies were playing really well. In the third, it looked like State ran out of gas a little bit and the Wolverines completely tilted the ice, outshooting the Spartans 15-6 and outscoring them 3-0 in the final frame.

He still didn't manage to nail down the #1 star for his shutout, but Shawn Hunwick did get a star this time, garnering #2 honors. He made 28 stops in the game. He didn't have any jaw-dropping stops on the level of Jimmy Howard's glove against Vancouver, but he made several huge stops while the game was in doubt, and just played a really strong, sound game between the pipes. He was at his best toward the end of the first period. I didn't jot down too many specifics, but he made at least four big-time saves while the game was still 0-0. One I remember was off a nice behind-the-back feed from Dustin Gazely that put Derek Grant in all alone.

He also single-handedly sent two Spartans to the penalty box to create the 5-on-3 that led to the third goal of the nice, which completely iced it. The first appeared to be a huge dive that he sold pretty well, giving all Michigan fans a heart-attack in the process by sloooooowly skating to the bench. On the ensuing power play, Torey Krug got tangled up with Hunwick and then knocked him to the ice. No dive on that one, it was right in front of the ref, and the MSU captain was sent to the box, creating a 5-on-3 with 6 minutes left in a 2-goal hockey game. Dumb penalty and Michigan made them pay. Merrill sent it down low to Caporusso who fed Treais cross-crease. Easy goal for #21 and the game was all but in the books at that point. 

That wasn't the only dumb penalty that the Wolverines took advantage of. They continued to abuse the Chelii, as Dean took a bad penalty for elbowing and Hagelin scored all of six seconds later. 

The second goal of the night came off a faceoff win by Hagelin (the only faceoff he took, as a matter of fact). Langlais put a shot through traffic that nicked the Swede on the way through. There must have been six guys between Langlais and Palmisano, but the shot found its way through.

Michigan's fourth goal was a really well set-up play. Scooter Vaughan brought the puck in and held it just long enough to draw the defense to him. That left Mac Bennett wide open at the right point. Vaughan slid it over to him and Bennett had all kinds of room to walk in. He labeled one into the top corner far side for the first goal of his career.

A few more random thoughts:
-Wasn't a bit surprised to see Llewellyn sitting out Saturday night. He stayed out of the box on Friday but had several turnovers and completely sold out for a big hit that left his man wide open for a breakaway.

-What does it say on the back of Hunwick's mask? I've never gotten a good look at it.

-I forgot to mention this on Friday night, but those Ohio State camouflage jerseys would be in the conversation for worst-looking hockey sweater I've ever seen. Even Michigan State's silver jersey thought those were hideous. Then again, they swept Miami, so I guess they can wear whatever they want.

-Did they finally give Chad Langlais the greenlight to go, now that he's got Baby Lidstrom as a defense partner? I swear I've never seen him that active out there rushing the puck. There were three or four times over the course of the weekend where I thought, "Damn he's fast." I always knew he could skate, but I just don't remember him being that obviously fast all that often. 

-Palmisano actually played a pretty good game. He gave up 4, but didn't get an awful lot of help. He had no chance of stopping the second or third goals, and the first one was through a nice screen as well. Made some big saves, but Michigan continues to find ways to get pucks past him.

-Where was Will Yanakeff? I didn't catch where they said he was, but Fox Sports indicated that he wasn't the backup Saturday night and the box score seems to agree with that.

-Hagelin's line scored two and they could have had three or four more really easily. They were making things happen the entire night.

-I thought Caporusso had a nice game as well. He made a really nice pass on Treais's goal. He was only credited with a couple of shots on goal, but he had several nice chances. I really liked the neutral zone faceoff that he knocked forward and picked up almost at full-speed already. It set up a 2-on-1 with Glendening off what was basically a nothing play: A neutral zone draw. Not supposed to get chances like that.

-The key play of the game came when Michigan was leading 2-0. Michigan State got the power play that you knew was coming, this time it was Burlon for boarding. If MSU scores there, it's a 2-1 game with half a period to play. Michigan's much-maligned unit turned in as good of a penalty kill as you can possibly have. MSU never had possession of the puck, much less a shot on goal or a scoring chance. Shortly thereafter, Michigan State hits Hunwick twice, we get a 5-on-3, Treais scores, and it's lights out.

It's a big weekend coming up in CCHA play. We now sit four points behind Notre Dame in the standings (with a game in hand), as they swept Northern Michigan. In third place is Ferris State, actually. They're two points behind us, though we have a pair of games in hand. Miami is four points back of Michigan, having played one more game than the Wolverines. ND hosts fifth-place Alaska, we've got a huge home-and-home with Ferris State, and Miami has what should be an easy six against BGSU.

We're sitting 7th in the PWR, and 8th in RPI. There are some interesting teams that would make the tournament if it started today: RPI, Merrimack, Western Michigan (!), and Union would all get in. Miami would be out (!!!!!!), as would Minnesota, which never ceases to be funny. Still a lot of hockey to be played, but it's kind of cool to see some new names in tournament contention.

On to the Joe!

It was March 13, 2010
That they came to bury Michigan, all dressed in maize and blue
The words were said, the prayers were read and everybody cried
But when they closed the coffin there was someone else inside
Oh they came to bury Michigan, but Michigan wasn't dead
And when the game was over it was someone else instead
Twenty Michigan Wolverines put on the skates of black
And as the students sang The Victors
To the Joe, we're headed back!

Well, well, well. The Michigan Wolverines are headed back to the Joe! Playing on the road without their starting goalie and without their captain, Michigan won two games in a row in East Lansing for the first time since 1975.

I didn't get to see Friday's game, which is a shame because it sounds like it was complete and utter domination. Michigan scored four times in the first 20:21 to build a lead that the Spartans couldn't come close to overcoming.

Hagelin and Wohlberg each scored breakaway (or partial breakaway) goals and then Louie Caporusso scored what a lot of people described as arguably the best goal of the season--and what a beauty it was! Steve Kampfer put one through a Chris Brown screen to give the Wolverines a 4-0 lead. FYS would score a fluky goal before the Wolverines took advantage of a miscue by Ann Arborite Drew Palmisano and finished out the scoring. The pair of goals gave Caporusso 10 in his last 10.

Tonight started off the same way. Rust and Treais scored 21 seconds apart to chase Palmisano and give Michigan a 2-0 lead. The Spartans came back with 3 power play goals in the last five minutes of first period, including one with just 0.7 seconds left in the first period. The first two were on a 5 on 3 (and subsequent 5 on 4) when Chad Langlais and Tristin Llewellyn took penalties a minute apart. Llewellyn went back into the box at 19:39 and the Spartans scored again 20 seconds later.

Ben Winnett tied the game back up with a PPG of his own on a really nice shot, and Chris Brown jammed a puck in during a goalmouth scramble to put the Wolverines ahead for good.

The Wolverines outshot FYS 44-21 on the night, including an incredible 16-1 margin in the second period.

In a small bit of karma, Corey Tropp did not play in Game 2 after stepping on a puck in warmups. Fiddlesticks! 

The line of the night came from one of my buddies after Palmisano got pulled. I gave him the old "Did you know Drew Palmisano is from Ann Arbor?" text, to which he replied, "Now he's from the MSU bench!"

There's a really cool video up on MGoBlue of the team celebrating in the locker room after the game. Red commented that the Wolverines have been to the Joe something like 20 straight years, but they've never had to battle in a situation like that.

They should be really proud of themselves. In a season of completely uninspired hockey at points, they got it together and took out the CCHA's #2 team on their home ice. Our fans should be proud as well. The chanting was audible and it by and large embarrassed the Michigan State fans that were there. The Spartans love to reminisce about taking over Crisler back at the end of the Ellerbe-era, but the Wolverine fans took over Munn during a playoff series. Great work, everyone who was there.

Now it's on to the Joe where we will take on the Miami University RedHawks, who knocked out OSU 2-1 tonight. We've also climbed up the Pairwise rankings to the bubble. To be safely in, we still need to win this thing, but who knows, maybe there's a scenario that exists where we could still get in as an at-large. It's enough to make me really wish we hadn't blown a few of those games earlier in the season, though.

MSU 4, Michigan 3...ERRRRR, MSU 3, Michigan 2

I can give you two reasons that Michigan isn't going to the NCAA Tournament this year and why they don't belong there anyway:

1) Our goaltending is horrifically inconsistent. Yes, as a whole Bryan Hogan played well tonight. You can't fault him on the first goal, and he gets a pass on the second goal because it sure looked like it hit Brandon Burlon's stick. Yes, he made some great stops when it was 0-0. Yes, he even made some great stops when the game was 3-0. But that third goal....it was the type of goal that's been killing us all year. 2-0 you've still got a chance. 3-0 is going to take a minor miracle--and a miracle that we almost got--to win on the road. It's not going to happen very often. The third one tonight was a shot that dribbled off his pads to the right, getting back to Tropp's stick just in time for him to slide it into the net before he went behind the goal. You can't leave that rebound. It's that type of goal--or the shorty against FSU last weekend--that are going to keep us out of the tournament. We're not winning CCHA's because there's no way in hell Hogan's keeping it together for four out of five games. No way.

2) 3 games, 3 goals, 3 points, 2 game-winners. Those are Captain Douchebag's numbers against the Wolverines this season. The fact that the Green Bay Packers let Brett Favre tear them up twice this year--including once in their house--told me everything I needed to know about the 2009 Packers. The fact that Michigan has let Corey Tropp beat them twice--once in their building, on a play against Steve Kampfer of all people--tells me all I need to know about this team. You can't let that guy do that to you twice. I don't care if Andrew Rowe beats you. I don't care if Dustin Gazley beats you. I don't care if Chris Summers shoots the goddamn puck into his own net six times or if Bryan Hogan Statue of Libertys the game winner. You can't let Corey Tropp beat you. And you definitely can't let him beat you twice.

Now, let's talk about the officiating. I'm not sure I have the words to describe what went on in the last three minutes of that hockey game. I think my buddy Kevin might have put it best in a text to me: "What is this clown show?"

I do know one thing: If you ever need a prime example of why Steve Piotrowski needs to lace up the skates again, it's the fact that the ref who is widely regarded as the best ref in the CCHA blew a call like that in a game as big as that.

But let's back up.

With just a couple of minutes to go in a 3-2 hockey game, Michigan State came down on a 2 on 1 that turned into a 3 on 2, after a Chad Langlais turnover in the MSU end. Rowe spun around Summers and sent a pass into the slot. Hogan made the initial save, but despite having it hit him in the chest, the rebound popped into the air and Hogan flailed to try and recover. Summers was in the crease and tried to bat the puck out of the air with his hand. As he was attempting to do that, Andrew Rowe came in and drilled him in the back. The puck hit the ice and Rowe jammed it in.

The official right on the play--Mark Wilkens--pointed goal. Chris Summers had his arms out asking for a hitting from behind call even before he stopped sliding. He immediately got up and went bonkers on Wilkens.

They go to the replay (at least I think they did....maybe the four blind mice just got together and "replayed it in their heads") and there doesn't appear to be anything to overturn the goal on. At best you're hoping they rule the puck left the crease so Rowe didn't have a right to be there anymore, or something. Yes it was a penalty, no the goal shouldn't count, but the ref on the ice called it a goal. There's no goalie interference to overturn it.

They waived it off. Not only did they waive it off, they gave Rowe a penalty! I would love to hear the explanation for that one. Surely we're going to get some line of bull that the back referee--Shegos--was trying to make a call and it just got overlooked. Spath's article indicates that Shegos blew it dead from center ice. And if that's the case, fine.

(This assumes they looked at the replay) But then why look at the replay? To determine if the puck was in before the call? It couldn't have been. They may be saying Shegos blew it dead at center. I can't say I ever heard a whistle. At this point, it sure looks like the CCHA just went to replay, overturned a goal, and assessed a penalty.

(If they didn't go to review) If they didn't go to review, then what took so long? Either someone blew it dead or they didn't. This isn't the NFL. You don't get to discuss plays with the whole crew and then retroactively make a penalty call--even if it ended up being the correct one.

Let's be perfectly clear. They got the call right. Rowe deserved a penalty and the goal shouldn't have counted. I just don't have the foggiest clue how they justify making that call after either going to the replay or discussing it amongst themselves. Either someone made the call live or they didn't. If they did, great. If they didn't, they're all blind, but it should still be a goal.

So now Michigan has a man-advantage with just over two minutes to go and a chance to pull off a huge comeback on the road. Just after the penalty expired, Chris Brown was standing in the slot. The puck hit him and bounced down, through the legs of Drew Palmisano, and into the net. Like, straight through the legs of Palmisano. We're not talking pinballing. We're not talking the puck died between his legs but was still loose and someone jammed it in. It hit Chris Brown, bounced down, went right through Palmisano into the net.

Shegos somehow missed this and blew the play dead within milliseconds of the puck going underneath Palmisano. The whistle may not have gone until the puck was in the net (I'm not sure), but thanks to the most retarded rule in sports--the play is dead when it's dead in the referee's mind, not when he blows the whistle--you can't review it.

That's a missed call. You can see from the behind-the-net cam that the puck was never even remotely covered. And the guy who is widely considered the best ref in the conference--as if that's not like saying someone is the prettiest ugly girl (by the way, there were options in the crowd tonight....for as many good-looking girls as there are supposed to be at Michigan State, they must have found every fug in the bunch during the crowd shots tonight....holy buckets)--completely blew it.

I'll say this once again, Miami fan: You can bitch all you want to about Matt Shegos officiating Michigan games even though he's a Michigan alum. We'd gladly ban him from doing our games as well. You can't waive the "favoritism" banner around ever again when you see something like that. That blown call might have put the final nail in our tournament chances. (Though to be fair, that just gets us to OT.)

It's too much, especially on the day the NFL said "Oh, yeah, about that NFC Championship? Yeah, we completely effed that one up." I'm sick of games getting decided this way. I'm sick of quick whistles (I'm thinking of Scott Hansen yet again, thank you Shegos), I'm sick of kicked-in pucks counting, I'm sick of good goals not counting.

This one was big. If Michigan comes back and wins that game, they've got a chance to flip the comparison with Michigan State tomorrow and it's a HUGE boost to the tournament chances. We're running out of chances, but we probably don't belong in The Dance anyway.

What else can you really say? Some quick hitters:

-The power play put in a couple, but one goal was a two-minute 5 on 3 and the other was kind of off a nothing play. They passed the puck well on a couple of PPs, but never had a lot of chances and there were at least 3 or 4 of those power play opportunities that completely went by the wayside without a hint of a scoring chance. Up until our fifth power play chance, I don't think we had one that you could even consider decent. Even the four minutes we had left on the five-minute major after the first goal...we didn't get a whole lot going and that was a chance to really turn the game.

-Hogan did make some very good stops in the first half of the game. That third goal was just a head-scratcher though.

-A few silly penalties when we certainly didn't need them. Greg Pateryn took a needless one about 30 seconds after MSU killed off a Michigan power play, so you know they're looking anyway. Dumb penalties by Tristin Llewellyn got Pateryn into the lineup. You don't want to find yourself back in the press box because of the same thing. Kampfer took a dumb late run at somebody in the third period. Unless it's Corey Tropp you have to be smarter. He didn't even get his money's worth. It was a cheap call, but you can't give them the opportunity to call it, especially when they've shown they're calling everything.

-Over half the game was spent with one team on the man advantage. That's way too much. Michigan had 19:23 in power play time. MSU had 13:20. Aside from the Gazley/Treais kerfuffle, I didn't even think it was an overly chippy game. Definitely not one that warranted 33 minutes in power play time, which would've been 36 without penalties ending on power play goals. You're talking almost TWO FULL PERIODS of man advantages in that game. I sure am glad we have the two ref system, so they can call literally everything but miss the most obvious call of the game: that Drew Palmisano never covered that puck.

-The goal on the 5 on 3 was quite nice. Moffie at the left point down to Lynch on the left wing. He centers for Rust, who one-touches it to Hagelin back-door for the goal. That's the way to do it when you've got two extra men.

-A lot of odd-man rushes. And a lot of odd-man rushes both ways.

I really don't know what the hell else to say. The officiating in this league is a complete joke, and it's a complete joke that Corey Tropp's able to touch the puck without getting drilled into next week, let alone the fact that he's scored two game-winners on the Wolverines this year.

10 Things to Know About Notre Dame

1) Notre Dame comes into this game ranked #1 in the country with a 19-3-3 record. They haven't lost since Miami finished out a sweep of them on October 25th, a span of 20 games.

2) If you look at their schedule though, they really haven't played too many great teams. They lost to Denver and got swept by Miami. They beat BC, which was a nice win, but here are the CCHA teams they've played during this streak: LSSU four times, BGSU four times, Western twice, Ferris twice, Alaska twice (in South Bend). Duluth, Union, and Providence were their other games. Pretty much the opposite of the Pittsburgh Steelers' schedule this year. Need more proof? They've played the 24th rated schedule in the country according to the current RPI rankings. Michigan is #8. Only Ohio State, Cornell, and Princeton have played worse schedules amongst the teams in the top 15 in RPI.

3) The key to their success? They really don't give up that many goals. They've given up more than three just one time the entire season, and that was in the season opener (a 5-2 loss at Denver). They've only given up 3 goals on five occasions. They've held an opponent to 0 or 1 goals on fourteen occasions.

4) Their leading goal scorer is the surprising Christan Hanson, who has 14-12--26 in 25 games. He had just 20 goals and 33 points in the three seasons prior to this one. Calle Ridderwall, the sophomore who put the dagger in the hearts of Michigan fans in overtime last year, has 10 goals, eight of which have come with the man advantage (He's 5th in the country in PPGs). Erik Condra and Kevin De-De-Deeth have cracked the twenty point mark as well. Ryan Thoia-Thang (when did I turn into Chris Berman?) has been a little quiet. He has just 8-6--14 after going for 41 and 32 points the last two seasons. Nine guys have 5+ goals.

5) Amongst their defensemen, Brian Blatchford, Ian Cole, and Kyle Lawson have combined for 5 goals and 38 assists. Teddy Ruth doesn't provide much in the way of offense, but he's rock solid back there. And in net it's been Jordan Pearce for the most part. He's 18-3-3 with a 1.56 goals against and a very impressive .936 save percentage. He's 5th nationally in goals against and 7th in save percentage.

6) They're 12th nationally in offense (3.44) and 3rd defensively (1.56 goals per game). They're #2 in scoring margin, behind Air Force, who doesn't actually count.

7) They're a pretty disciplined team as well, 36th in most penalty minutes at just 15.4 a night (4.4 fewer than Michigan). And the special teams? They're pretty darn good too. #4 in PP at 21.8%. Their 34 goals with the man advantage trails only North Dakota and Minnesota-Duluth. They're sixth on the PK, killing off 89.7% of their opponents' power plays. They've also scored six shorthanded goals on the season. Only Air Force, Army, RIT, and BGSU have more (Who would've bet on those four?).

8) Michigan leads the all-time series 66-43-5, but Notre Dame (as everyone remembers) won the most recent meeting, beating Michigan 5-4 in overtime in the national semifinals. We're just a tick over .500 in South Bend, and are 37-20-3 at Yost.

9) Travis Turnbull actually leads all Wolverines in career points against ND with a 3-5--8 line in 8 games against the Fighting Irish. Aaron Palushaj has 5 points in 3 games (all assists). Matt Rust had 3 goals and four points against ND last year. Hagelin is also a point per game player against them. In net, Billy Sauer is 3-3-0 with a 3.19/.894, and I just threw up in my mouth a little. Bryan Hogan has a 2.62/.900 in the 2+ periods he's played against them.

10) Erik Condra has done really well against Michigan in his career, with a 3-6--9 line in seven games. Regan, Deeth, Blatchford, and Thang all have 5+ points against the Wolverines. And Ridderwall had 3 points in 3 games last year. Pearce is just 1-2-0 with a 3.15/.890 against us.

Tomorrow's game will air on CBS College Sports at 8:05 Eastern. Saturday's game is on FSN Detroit at 7:35. So, woo hoo, I actually get to watch on a TV!

A couple other quick things:
-The preliminary hearings in the Mike Milano trial started today. Steve Kampfer testified for over an hour. That kid has had an eventful week. While the testimony doesn't paint either kid in a very good light, I have to say that I've never understood the "He's been attacked twice this year. Clearly he needs to keep his mouth shut" type comments that I've heard several times (not just from Sparties) since the incident took place. I really don't believe that what Conboy and Tropp did had anything to do with Kampfer or his personality (which I don't know anything about). He drilled Tropp, they were getting beat yet again by Michigan, and they both flipped out. I'd buy into it more if he had gotten powerbombed at a bar twice in a year. But on the scorecard you've got one fight outside a bar and one on-ice incident because a couple of knuckleheads snapped.

-Corey Tropp gave an interview to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader about his take on the incident last weekend. Here's what he says he remembers about the slash:

CT: Well I was skating through center-ice ... I thought I got kneed, but you know, people have been saying it was a clean hit. I guess I just wasn’t too happy with the hit. (Andrew) Conboy came up and kind of suckered him from the side, and I really didn’t realize Conboy was going to sucker him.
I was going go over and give him a little push myself. It was kind of one of those things where I didn’t even realize he was injured on the ice when I did it. After that I felt pretty bad. I still feel pretty bad about the whole situation.

There's some interesting stuff in that interview. I've said my piece. No need to comment further, but the response above kind of deserve a "Uhhhhhh...."

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh CYA!

Andrew Conboy has left the Michigan State program. The wording in some of the articles has been kind of funny, but the impression that I get is that both kids were technically removed from the hockey team--not just suspended for the remainder of the season. The article in the Detroit News suggests neither player is a member of the hockey team any longer. They were both free to petition for reinstatement following the season, but Conboy has elected to drop out of school and enter the pro ranks. He'll be better off in a league where he can fight, since if he has a future in hockey, that's gonna be about all he's good for.

Comley has said that if Tropp choses to remain in school, they'll discuss his status in the spring.

So bare minimum, the fallout from this incident has been what I was hoping for. Conboy gone, Tropp suspended for the year. I waffled many times about whose actions were worse, and I suppose the fact that it was that tough of a decision for me means that I should want both of them to be gone. Maybe that's the eventual outcome. I mean, how do you pick between Bertuzzi and McSorley?

Things might get worse for the duo from Moo U. The University of Michigan police are investigating Conboy's roundhouse and the Tropp Chop to determine if further investigation is needed in the matter, which could ultimately result in criminal charges.

As I said when the incident occurred, I've never made up my mind as to how I feel about criminal charges being filed as a result of sporting events. If you do have a strong feeling one way or the other and would like to voice said opinion, a reader asked me to pass along the email address of the Washtenaw County prosecutor: prosecutormackie@ewashtenaw.org

Red Berenson was posed a question about where the line is between sports and criminal activity and I think he has a pretty good perspective on it. There's also a major foot-in-the-mouth moment from the reporter.

It'll be interesting to see where this all goes, but I think for the most part it's time to move on unless another major development happens. At least one of the two goons is gone and he ain't coming back. Unless Steve Kampfer ends up in the ECHL, he'll probably never face Conboy again.

I would imagine that the students will get a nice lecture at some point about the language used, but you'll still never convince me that that chant wasn't 100% warranted. MGoBlog and Jizzard from The Fort put it better than I possibly could:

Brian:

But the FYS cheer on Saturday was the right emotion at the right time, A ringing loud expression of contempt and disgust was the appropriate reaction. Sometimes "fuck you" is the only appropriate sentiment.

Jizzard:

I don't know if I've ever heard a chant from a student section so adequately reflect the feelings of every student and hardcore Michigan hockey fan. It was direct, it was concise, there was none of the singsong foolishness of a "f*** the Irish" chant. It just said exactly what everybody who saw the incident was feeling. It is what I thought when I heard what had happened following the game on Saturday night, and it reflected how I felt on Sunday when I saw some Sparty Fan Reaction, and again when I read their crap on Monday. It wasn't "f*** the Spartans" in cartoon voices, it was a loud, proud, angry, defiant "F88K YOU STATE." It was perfect. I'm proud of our students for expressing themselves that way, rather than making the Spartan bench a garbage pit or rushing the ice or overturning the Spartan bus - the likely outcomes in East Lansing and Columbus. Free speech and expression over violence, in the classic Michigan Student tradition. Bravo, Michigan students.

That was beautiful.

One last piece of fallout from the attack could come in the area of recruiting. Check out this comment on one of my posts:

My son and i were at this game in Ann Arbor (as a recruiting trip). He's being looked at my both Michigan, Michigan State and a few others. I can't tell you if he'll be playing at Michigan or not, but i do promise you he won't be playing for Michigan State. My wife, my son, and I all sat watching this unfold on the ice across from us and couldn't believe what we were seeing. I was almost surreal. Hockey has enough challenges without incidents like this feeding the anti-hockey sentiment across the nation. I'm just glad Steve Kampfer is going to be OK. Best of luck on the rest of the season.

That probably wasn't the impression the Spartans wanted to make on a potential recruit.

MVictors contacted Dave Shand about the possible legal ramifications. That other dude who used to write a bunch of junk for that paper that likes to publish the transcripts of students without their permission also chimed in. They also updated everyone about the Shand vs. Martin lawsuit.

Conboy and Tropp Suspended for the Season

FYS just announced that Andrew Conboy and Corey Tropp will both be suspended for the duration of their season for their roles in the attack on Michigan defenseman Steve Kampfer Saturday night. I know a lot of people, myself included, were hoping for more. I was of the opinion that Conboy, at the very least, should've been kicked off the team.

But I don't think anyone can be unhappy with the punishment, especially considering the fact that Kampfer escaped major injury. I realize that the result doesn't change the action--the recklessness was the same whether they killed him or he got away uninjured--but I'm ok with the punishment FYS imposed. I would only hope that both players are on no-tolerance policies from here on out. On-ice, personal life, in class....take a false step and you're gone.

I do feel that if Kampfer had been seriously injured we would have seen at least one Spartan booted from the team. But I'd much, much rather have a healthy Kampfer than have two fewer Spartans on their hockey roster.

Even though FYS's team is awful, the punishment is severe. Both guys are going to miss 12+ games, and they've got a stigma that will follow them for a long time. (Have you ever looked at Todd Bertuzzi the same way after his hit on Steve Moore? I haven't.) Considering that it doesn't appear Kampfer will miss any action, I think it's pretty reasonable. Though I do still question FYS for having a no-talent knucklehead like Conboy on the team.

There's finally a good-quality video of the incident on Youtube, so if you haven't yet seen what all the fuss is about, here ya go:


As one would expect, the Michigan blogosphere exploded about the incident.
-The Ace of Sports, The Diag and MHNet had hilarious beat-downs of the State News writer who essentially split the blame for the incident between Michigan and MSU. I had a similar reaction to the two of them when I read that story. I'm glad they already did it justice. I especially liked that MHNet pointed things out to yet another recipient of the thin letter that no, the second word of the chant was not "State".

The original article (by the way, check out the hyperlink...evidently they've got a Canadian uploading articles or something?) is worth reading, simply to see the writer getting ripped to shreds in the comments.

This is the best part:

With the game all but over, U-M’s Steve Kampfer took a run at MSU sophomore forward Corey Tropp at center ice.

In an attempt to stick up for his teammate, MSU freshman Andrew Conboy went after Kampfer to try and teach him a lesson.

Wow.

MGoBlog had a pair of typically awesome pieces. One about the incident itself and a follow-up the next day. (Bonus points for the picture of Tropp between Satan and Jim Tressel.) He makes a really great point that the punishment needed to be severe, considering college hockey doesn't allow players to "police themselves" by fighting.

I do agree that the suspension to the players isn't as severe as it would have been if FYS was a decent hockey team, but these have to rank amongst the longest suspensions in the history of college hockey. I wanted to see one, if not both of them, kicked off the team, but the realistic side of me figured that wouldn't happen. It's nice to know that brutally assaulting someone on the ice is twice as severe as saying "Sloppy seconds" about your ex-girlfriend though. In case you were wondering.

Here was MHNet's original take about the game. I can't remember if I linked to it or not.

A really strong take from Michigan Sports Center.

WCH has the FYS chant figured out.

The national media/blogosphere has picked up on things as well. The incident made it to Deadspin, The New York Times, The Sporting News, AOL's Fanhouse, and now, ESPN.

The Ann Arbor News, who has been all over this story, has an account of how Bruce Kampfer made it past security into the visiting locker room. The elder Kampfer called Red Berenson to apologize for his actions and Michigan announced that security will be beefed up in the future.

The Michigan Daily has an interview with Steve Kampfer. He confirms that the slash hit him in the neck and he mentions that no one from FYS has contacted him to apologize and he doesn't want them to.

Some good news: Mel Pearson was on WTKA today and mentioned that Mark Mitera is doing very well and is "probably a couple weeks away still..." It sounds like we're going to get #17 back before the end of the year, which is amazing. Our defense corps is going to be just ridiculous when he gets back. Scooter Vaughan, who had a very solid freshman season, is a healthy scratch already. Hard to believe that we've got the #9 defense in the country without Mitera, without Kampfer for over half the season, and without Burlon for 8 games or so. If that group is completely healthy for the post-season, we're going to be sitting pretty.

Final thoughts:

I'm glad to see that FYS took action before the CCHA did (even if it was kind of a joint venture). They sent a message that actions like that won't be tolerated, and even if I think it lacked a little bit of a spine not to boot at least one of them, the punishment was quick, it was severe, and they didn't make excuses for the actions, unlike the State News reporter.

I'm also glad to see that Michigan quickly admitted that the security outside the visiting locker room was lax and has taken steps to remedy the situation. It shouldn't be that easy to get inside a team's locker room. Though had there been adequate security around, Mr. Kampfer still could have gotten to Tropp when the team was headed out to the bus, if he really wanted to. Security would have eliminated the "spur of the moment" reaction to run in there, though, and it's good they're going to step it up. It wasn't a great reaction, but Mr. Kampfer has brass ones...

Finally, I have to comment about the language at Yost, most notably the FYS chant. I might take some heat for this opinion, and that's fine. Maybe it's a generational thing or maybe I just have a very high threshold for what is offensive, but I just don't see what the big deal is. I really don't. It's a nice ideal that college games be a family atmosphere, but when you've got a couple thousand college kids in the same place, there's going to be language that you don't necessarily want your kid to hear. Hell, there's probably language you wouldn't want your kid to hear in the dining halls, let alone at the hockey games.

When I was 11, my parents let my brother and I see My Cousin Vinny. I still remember it to this day. We went to the video store and they told both of us, "We don't agree with the language that they use in this movie. You will not use the words they use. But the movie is funny enough that we think you need to see it." We watched it. We laughed a lot. And it didn't corrupt me from having heard the word "fuck" several dozen times. Be a good parent and it's a non-issue. Either your kid knows the word or they're going to learn the word at some point. Don't stop going to Yost because of the language. If it happens, use it as a teaching tool.

I never agreed with throwing the term "C***-sucker" into the penalty chant. I do think that crosses the line. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite somewhat, I'm not sure. I have my own lines and I think that one crossed it. But I never have seen the problem with the rest of the penalty chant--seriously, you can say the majority of those words on TV--and even if the FYS chant would normally cross my hypothetical line, I do believe that it was completely called-for in this situation. Sometimes booing just doesn't get it done. Call me immature if you want to.

For the record, I realize that stuff like that doesn't paint the university in a great light. Would I appreciate it if they wouldn't chant "Fuck the Irish" unprovoked? Sure. But in general, I view people as overly-sensitive about stuff like that. We can have all the violence in the world on TV. But God-forbid we see a covered up breast during the Super Bowl or someone says the F-word. Maybe you shouldn't have to consider what your kid will hear if you take him to the hockey game. But if he doesn't know those words yet, he's gonna learn them soon enough. Probably from you during a Michigan football game. Chances are, unless he's like 4 he probably uses them already when he's out of your earshot.

Lastly, since I have to run, lost in the melee this weekend was how freaking awesome our new second line is. Palushaj, Rust and Hagelin were amazing this weekend. They've clearly got chemistry, Rust is scoring again, and Caporusso proved yet again that he can be perfectly effective without Palushaj on his wing. Turnbull and Wohlberg are playing great hockey. Two scoring lines (and a fantastic checking line) make for a very scary Michigan team moving forward, especially considering how good our defense and goaltending have been. The third line wasn't great, but things don't always gel overnight. If Czarnik gets going--and he pretty much has to at some point--the third line could be pretty good as well.